This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Social proof is one of the most important factors that causes someone to purchase. Just think about it. Are you more likely to buy something if five of your friends say, "Hey, you've got to try this?" Well, of course you are. And you're also more likely to buy something that has a lot of good reviews. Some people look at reviews all the time, whenever they purchase something, whenever they're considering it.
Other people, you know, just once in a while, but there's almost no one that never looks at reviews for anything. Reviews are important because they're connected to that factor of social proof. You want to know if other people like you will like this product or this service or this restaurant or whatever it is. So how do you get customers to leave reviews in particular on Etsy? That's what today's caller is facing.
She has a new Etsy shop selling greeting cards themed around grammar jokes. And she wants more reviews. We talked about this a few weeks ago in a different context. Today, let's talk about Etsy. What should she do?
We'll dive into her detailed question and my somewhat detailed answer after this message from our sponsor. [Music]
Hi Chris, this is Susan from Austin, Texas. And I've been listening to the show since it first launched. My side hustle is called Grammar Geek Greetings. And my question is about getting customers to leave me reviews on Etsy.
I do have some reviews and they're all five stars, but I would love to get more reviews and I'm not sure how. When I send the shipping confirmation, I do include a personal note thanking the person for their order and asking them to leave me a review if they like the card. Then when I ship the cards, I enclose the business card with my logo and a handwritten note on the back in red pen, of course, reiterating this request. I believe Etsy also reminds customers to leave a review. Do I need to tweak this messaging?
Is there something else they should do? Thank you so much. [Music]
Susan, what's up? Thank you so much for listening in Austin. Man, I miss visiting Austin.
I was supposed to go there a couple months ago, as I may have mentioned for my book tour, lots of other cities as well. So hopefully I'll be able to get back there at some point soon. Anyway, let's talk about your shop. Let's talk about what you're doing, your review process, et cetera. First of all, remember, and this is for everybody here, remember, no matter what you do, no matter how much effort you go to, and Susan's doing quite a lot here, no matter what you do, getting more than 20% of people to leave reviews is gonna be tough.
Most customers just never leave reviews at all. Most people don't leave reviews for anything unless it's really bad. Just keep that in mind. Remember that the next time you're looking at restaurant reviews, people often go on Yelp or Google reviews mostly to vent. You know, the time that they're gonna do that is much greater than the time they're gonna be like unprompted.
Oh, I think I should go and say good things about this place. So that's why you do have to prompt them, and that's what Susan is doing. In her case, it actually sounds like she's doing everything right in terms of the follow-up, in terms of the handwritten note on the back and red pin. I mean, that's great. So I went to look at her shop, and at the time of this recording, which it may be more later, it's probably gonna be a lot more later because her business is gonna be great.
But at the time of this recording, I saw 26 sales on this new shop and six reviews, which I think is actually a pretty good ratio. So, you know, if you're doing all that, Susan, it sounds like you already have a well-established process to ask nicely but passionately for reviews, which you should do. So my thought is that she should put her focus elsewhere, I mean, keep doing what she's doing, but focus elsewhere on more products and customers, 'cause ultimately that's what you want. If you have 100 sales at the same ratio, then you're gonna have, what, four times as many, 25 reviews or whatever. So ultimately you want more customers because that will bring you more reviews, but the end goal is not reviews, it is sales, happy customers, et cetera.
If you'd like to see Susan shop, go and check out Grammar Geek Greetings on Etsy. Just go to etsy.com and search Grammar Geek Greetings. She's got some really funny stuff there. She's got a tagline about how, you know, if you're social distancing, show friends and loved ones, you're still thinking of them. And of course she's got stuff that's relevant, not just in this time period, but well beyond.
And also, would you do me a favor and review "Sidosle School"? It just takes a moment. Your five-star rating goes a long way in helping other people discover the show. You can do that in Apple Podcasts right from your phone or wherever you listen. So I really, really appreciate your ratings and reviews.
It's how this show has grown over three years, not from a big marketing campaign, but from people just like you who are talking about it and sharing it with their friends. So thank you for that. And if you have a question, come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. We'll be featuring them throughout the year, along with updates from other listeners as they launch their projects. Good luck, Susan.
Good luck, everyone. I'll be cheering you on and I'll be back tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Sidosle School." [Music]
From the "Onward Project."
